These 6 frames made up of raw images from Cassini’s narrow-angle camera show the shadow of a moon – Epimetheus, perhaps? – drifting across the Encke Gap, a 200-mile-wide channel in Saturn’s A ring kept clear by the shepherd moon Pan. The central median ringlet is just visible in these images. With Saturn approaching…
Tag: moon
Streaming Content
This 14-frame animation shows the effect of Prometheus on Saturn’s F ring as it travels alongside, its gravity pulling the ring material into streamers that trail in its wake. A clump of ring material leads in front of the moon on the opposite side of the ring. Honestly, I’m not sure what causes this…
A Twilight Moon
In addition to its enshrouding atmosphere, Saturn’s moon Titan also has a high layer of haze that encircles it. Made up of complex hydrocarbons from the breakdown of methane and nitrogen, this haze completely covers the moon and extends over 670 miles into space. 3,200 miles across, Titan’s atmosphere is 10 times thicker and…
Rock, Ice and Shadow
Rhea’s cratered surface appears in high relief in this photo from the Cassini orbiter, taken on February 2, 2009. (Click to view the full version.) Rhea (REE-ah) is Saturn’s second-largest moon, after Titan, but at 950 miles across compared 3,200, Rhea is dwarfed by her bigger brother. Still, Rhea has some interesting features….it is…
Ready For My Close-Up, Mister Cassini
In less than 9 hours the Cassini-Huygens spacecraft will conduct its next flyby of Saturn’s moon Titan, using its radar mapping instruments to pierce the moon’s thick atmosphere and reveal more information about surface features. In particular, tonight’s flyby will focus on a feature in Titan’s south polar region called “Ontario Lacus”. Originally mapped…
Once a Jet, Always a Jet
Cassini’s camera caught Enceladus in just the right light this past Saturday, backlit by the sun and showing off its signature icy jets. Emanating from fractures in its southern polar region, the jets are composed of water ices and hint at possible liquid water existing beneath its surface, kept liquid by heat from the…
The Shadows of Spring
As Saturn’s springtime approaches on August 11 it is gradually moving into a position when its rings will be perfectly aligned with its orbital plane, causing them to be lit by the sun edge-on. During the months until then many of the moons of Saturn will be casting their shadows upon the rings, fleeting…
A Primordial Moon
Another beautiful composite by Gordan Ugarkovic, this false-color image shows the ancient cratered surface of Saturn’s moon Phoebe. About 132 miles across, Phoebe is a fifteenth the size of our own moon but is thought to be much, much older. With its retrograde (backwards) orbit, high orbital incline and extremely dark, pitted surface, it’s…
The Dark Side
The dark side of Tethys is illuminated by reflected light from Saturn in this image from the Cassini orbiter. On the sunlit side, the giant Odysseus crater can be seen straddling the western edge. The crater is 280 miles across in its entirety, taking up a large portion of the 660-mile-wide moon’s icy surface….
Making Waves
Little Daphnis sends waves curling in its wake as it courses along the Keeler Gap in Saturn’s A-ring in this photo from Cassini’s narrow-angle camera. The image was taken on January 31, 2009, approximately 532,000 miles from Daphnis and the rings. Daphnis is about 5 miles in diameter. The Keeler Gap is 26 miles…
Deimos Rising
Released today, this photo from the HiRISE camera aboard the MRO shows the smooth face of Deimos, Mars’ smaller moon. (Its larger brother is Phobos, also photographed by the HiRISE in 2008.) Its surface is covered by a fine layer of rocky soil, called regolith, which gives it its smooth texture. Deimos is only…
News Post: Cassini Photos New Moon
Cassini scientists have identified the presence of a previously unknown moonlet within Saturn’s thin G-ring, as seen in this series of photos spanning about ten minutes of time. The moonlet, only about a third of a mile wide, is the bright streak traveling in the center of the ring. (The other streaks are overexposed stars in…
Lights in the Dark 